Abstract

The Alsace-Baden-Basel area is an especially interesting "laboratory" for the study of border region problems and opportunities. Although the Common Market has tended to reduce the role of the Franco-German border it has not affected the Swiss frontier. Moreover, economic integration of the area is still inhibited by the effects of three very different national administrative structures. In many respects, border region issues in the trinational area tend to focus on a French region in an essentially germanic setting, and especially on the question of whether Alsace should be more closely integrated with France or with the Rhine axis. The nature and significance of these options are critically discussed in some detail.